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Palácio das Cinzas

The Palácio das Cinzas (transl. Palace of Ashes, or Palace of the Ashes)[1][note 1] is the former official workplace of the President of East Timor. It served in that role from 2002 to 2009. As of 2022, it was the headquarters of the East Timorese Ministry of Health.

Palácio das Cinzas
The building in 2018
Map
General information
TypeOffice
AddressRua Palácio das Cinzas, Caicoli [de]
Town or cityDili
CountryEast Timor
Coordinates8°33′43″S 125°34′31″E / 8.5619°S 125.5753°E / -8.5619; 125.5753
Current tenantsMinistry of Health
Renovated2002
OwnerGovernment of East Timor
Website
Ministry of Health

History

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During the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, the building was a police station and vehicle registration facility. In 1999, in the wave of violence caused by pro-Indonesia militia groups and Indonesian troops, it was burned down. Only the walls remained.[2][3]

When East Timor resumed independence in May 2002, the new Constitutional Government under Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri took over the refurbished Government Palace on the Dili waterfront. Initially, the new President, Xanana Gusmão, to whom only a pittance was available to fund his presidential office, had to make do with some spare offices in the same building. He considered that he did not have enough space to operate effectively, and that he needed to be separate from the government.[3][4]

Gusmão therefore set up a discrete presidential office in the still burned-out former police station and vehicle registration facility. He had the building fitted out with plywood screens, and called it the Palácio das Cinzas.[1][4] However, he continued to live in his own home, as his young nation could not afford to provide him with an official residence.[5] On 28 October 2002, Gusmão unveiled the Palácio das Cinzas as his new official workplace. The unveiling ceremony began with a parade of cutlass-bearing tribesmen and a flag-raising carried out by three goosestepping youths. The President then cut a ribbon, and Dili's Vicar-General, Father Jose Antonio da Cunha, sprinkled holy water.[3]

During the unveiling ceremony, Gusmão told his audience of diplomatic corps and UN officials that he had chosen the building because independence had emerged from the ashes of destruction and he wished to set an example, "to curb public expenditure... otherwise we won't achieve much in this independence process".[3] In naming the building, the President had also been influenced by the Portuguese propensity for describing presidential offices as "palaces", and a Time magazine cover article that had heralded East Timor's rise from the ashes.[6]

As a gesture of solidarity with East Timor's impoverished people, Gusmão intentionally left the building in disrepair.[6] It had no proper roof and only makeshift windows.[7] However, the President did not also intend that his unconventional office arrangements would be permanent. By 2003, plans had already been drawn up for a more comfortable palace, and the Chinese government had offered to help fund its construction.[6]

Meanwhile, the Palácio das Cinzas served its purpose, including by hosting important meetings. For example in November 2003 Gusmão held talks in the building with senior Portuguese minister Nuno Morais Sarmento [pt], who was visiting Dili to reaffirm Lisbon's commitment to continue aiding East Timor after the then scheduled end of the United Nations Mission of Support to East Timor in May 2004.[8][9] Similarly, in the early stages of the 2006 East Timorese crisis Gusmão and Alkatiri met with journalists at the building, and made a number of important announcements.[10]

Two months later, however, The New York Times described the Palácio das Cinzas as "a glorified bungalow really".[11] In 2008, even more critical observations were made by a Portuguese journalist reporting on an interview at the building with José Ramos-Horta, Gusmão's successor as President. He asserted that the palace "... took on the haunting and sinister air of the rest of the neighbourhood." The building looked empty, it appeared that no one worked there, and the President, the palace, and East Timor as a whole seemed terribly weak.[12]

In April 2009, construction of the replacement Nicolau Lobato Presidential Palace was completed.[13] The new palace was inaugurated on 27 August 2009.[2][14] Since then, Palácio das Cinzas has been renovated, and the Ministry of Health has set up its headquarters there.[7][15] In 2015, the street in which the palace is located was renamed Rua Palácio das Cinzas.[16]

References

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Footnote

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  1. ^ The expression Palácio das Cinzas is usually not translated in English language sources

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Cox, Christopher R. (5 May 2009). "Tourism in Timor?". Travel + Leisure. New York: Travel + Leisure Co. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Arquitetos portugueses projetam ampliação do Palácio Presidencial timorense" [Portuguese architects plan the expansion of the Timorese Presidential Palace]. SAPO 24 (in Portuguese). Lusa. 9 April 2015. Archived from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Staff writer (29 October 2002). "Gusmao sets the tone with his Palace of Ashes". The Age. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b Nuttall, Ruth (2021). "4. Independence and the politics of exclusion 2002-2005". Political Continuity and Conflict in East Timor: A History of the 2006 Crisis. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 9780367647780.
  5. ^ Barker, Anne (15 February 2008). "Rudd arrives in E Timor". ABC News. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b c Donnan, Shawn (29 November 2003). "Gusmao Says Much Can Be Achieved from Ashes". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  7. ^ a b Feijó, Rui Graça (2015). "Timor-Leste: The Two Sides of Success". In Singh, Daljit (ed.). Southeast Asian Affairs 2015. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 372. ISBN 9789814620581.
  8. ^ "Lisbon minister pledges continued aid beyond end of UN mandate". Lusa. 10 November 2003. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  9. ^ "O Palácio das Cinzas" [The Palácio das Cinzas]. Correio da Manhã (in Portuguese). 11 November 2003. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Timor-Leste: Situation calm in Dili - Timor-Leste". ReliefWeb. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  11. ^ Perlez, Jane (14 July 2006). "A Nation-Building Project Comes Apart in East Timor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  12. ^ Moura, Paulo (28 November 2008). "Palácio das Cinzas". Público (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  13. ^ "East Timor Legal News". www.etan.org. 17 April 2009. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  14. ^ Staff writer (30 August 2009). "Ramos-Horta pede à Indonésia devolução de corpo do Nicolau Lobato" [Ramos-Horta asks Indonesia to return Nicolau Lobato's body]. Notícias Lusófonas (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  15. ^ "News | Ministério da Saúde". Ministry of Health (East Timor). Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Timor-Leste: novos nomes para as ruas de Díli" [Timor-Leste: new names for the streets of Dili]. Observador (in Portuguese). Lusa. 30 October 2015. Archived from the original on 31 October 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
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